Neck Through or Bolt On

[daveq]

I have some awesome wood (bookmatched top and matching neck blank) that I will not be able to replace if something goes wrong or damages it. It's going to be a guitar for myself and I play a lot of lead so I would like to have good access to the upper frets. The sustain issue isn't something that I really think I'll notice but maybe some of you will convince me otherwise?

I have only done one deep tennon guitar and several bolt-ons - no neck-throughs yet.

The neck blank is big enough that I could make a second neck if something happened to the first IF IT IS A BOLT-ON ONLY! If I make any other type, it's a one-shot deal.

Wadya think?

[MikeB]

i reckon you could do a neck thru if you were careful, and uve made necks before, so you know whats going on. im making a neck atm, and ive only enough for a one shot bolt on, so im just being careful, and measuring 3x and cutting once, lol! i also think neckthrus look really cool, and sustain is meant to be better, but i have never made one, so i cant comment!

[westhemann]

if you haven't made a neck thru..why not try it?i reckon you will like it...i sure do

[fidgec94]

Ive heard many people rave about neck thrus. I couldnt possibly comment but from the risk point of view, i say that sticking to what you know (ie bolt-on or tenon) reduces risk. Then again, if you have plenty of common sense (as im sure you do), go extra careful and shoot for something alittle different (ie the neck thru)

You never know, you may love it (like Wes said). Good luck whatever you choose

[westhemann]

there is no risk....even if the neck broke or twisted for some reason you could still route a set neck pocket

[Southpa]

I'm not sure neck joint style will show a discernable difference in sound to the average guitar picker, especially when concerning solid body electrics. The basic physics rule states that sound travels fastest thru denser, more homogenous material. When speaking of applications to electric guitar construction it very well could be a moot point as most of the sound an electric produces is from the action of the vibrating string on electromagnetic pickups. However, the length of time a string vibrates without interruption (sustain) could be significant in neck construction. If the two anchor points of the string (bridge and nut) were on the same piece of wood, which has a fairly straight grain, you might get better sustain than a setup involving dissimilar pieces of wood bolted or glued together. I'm not saying there would be astronomical differences here and you would likely need some sensitive scientific equipment to verify this. Also, it is neither a good or a bad thing, as much of the tone a guitar produces is subject to preference.

But when considering overall strength and stability, neck construction is very important. The early SG's had strength problems at the neck joint area because of the excessive amount of wood that had to be removed for the neck pickup. Lots of guitars were cracking in that area as the neck joint began at the 22nd fret. Since then they have made some changes by moving the neck joint to the 19th fret.

The last guitar I built was a double cutaway style with a 4 degree neck angle. The neck angle started 3" into the body and continued from there. The 22nd fret was actually OUTSIDE of the guitar body. So I had even less wood available for stability after pickup routing. Thats why I opted to go with the neck through design and found it to be much stabler than had I gone with a set neck or bolt on design. Just make sure you leave lots of wood thickness at the heel in the back.

[skibum5545]

Purely as playing goes (and on a bass) (and unrelated to difficulty of workmanship) a neck-thru plays MUCH better than a bolt on in the way of upper fret access.

$0.02

[soapbarstrat]

Bolt-on all the way for me. One good reason is, I would always want to be able to change the neck angle if I wanted to. Other reasons just as good, but we've talked about them here and there before (machine screw inserts )

When I still had dreams of being a "rock star" one of my detailed plans was to have a bunch of necks, that would be fret-tweaked on the 'neck-jig' and would be left at home, then while I was on tour and would suddenly start having some neck problems on a guitar or two, I'd have someone at home Fed-Ex me one of those necks.

[lovekraft]

I really can't explain it adequately, and I don't pretend to understand the physics involved, but my neck-thrus just feel more... organic is the closest word I can come up with. Like when I "push" it, it "pushes" back as a unit. Probably self-delusional hoohaw, but that's my too scents.

[MKGBass]

NO SOAP BAR THAT WAS MY IDEA.

But yeah, i voted neckthru. I'm not entirely sure why but I've always liked them better. As a bass player, I notice most neckthru basses tend to have a lot more sustain, and each note seems to have a little more individual presence.

Then again, whether or not you should do neckthru for guitar depends on what kind of sound you want to create. ESPECIALLY with your woods. What ARE the woods?